Innovation and entrepreneurship skills are important issues which need to be mastered today to produce an effective 21st century society. Some universities offer degrees or other courses in these subjects, whilst others incorporate these topics in a variety of different degrees. But whatever approach the university takes these topics are quite challenging to teach, and also difficult to research. Courses and modules on these subjects are often quite theoretical and often they neither deliver the practical knowhow required nor do they inspire our students to become innovators or entrepreneurs. Fortunately some good work is being done in this field in various parts of the world and this annual competition highlights such initiatives.
If you are involved in the teaching of innovation and/or entrepreneurship, we invite you to participate in the 9th Innovation and Entrepreneurship Teaching Excellence Awards to showcase new ideas and new approaches for teaching innovation and entrepreneurship in higher education institutions and in the organisational environment. The final round of the competition will be run alongside the 19th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Krakow, Poland on the 25 – 26 September 2025.
The joint 2024 winners of Awards were the initiative: Startup Lab: A Model for Active Learning and Industry-Oriented Teaching Design, Anji Benhamed, Higher Colleges of Technology, (HCT), UAE and Empowering Change: The Crowdfunding Learning Experience in Entrepreneurial Education, Daniel Michelis, Hannah Rödiger & Sven Drews, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Germany. You can read these case histories and the other finalists in the 2024 Anthology of Case Histories, available from www.academic-bookshop.com
To enter the competition we ask you in the first instance to submit an abstract of up to 300 words using the online submission form describing the work you wish to draw to our attention to. If your work is suitable we will invite you to submit a case history of no more than 3000 words which will be considered as an entry to the competition. A panel of international adjudicators will evaluate the case histories. Your full case history submission should be structured around the following headings:
- Introduction to the nature of the teaching/training initiative and its specific objectives
- The infrastructure i.e. people, systems, hardware, software etc. required to launch the initiative
- The challenges that were encountered, how they developed and how they were overcome
- How the initiative was received by the learners and other participants
- The learning outcomes that were achieved and how they were measured and evaluated
- Plans to further develop the initiative.
The judges will consider all submissions received by the closing date and authors of the top rated initiatives will be invited to register and attend the conference in Poland on 25 - 26 September 2025 to present their case histories to the judges and conference participants. Finalists will also have their case histories published in a book and a prize will be awarded to the initiative judged to show the most creative thinking with regards teaching Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
All presenters in the awards must attend the physical conference.
Important Dates
Abstract Submission 16 April 2025
Notification of Abstract Acceptance 30 April 2025
Full Case History Submission 09 June 2025
Finalists announced 10 July 2025
Click here to Submit your entry
If you have any queries please email: marti@academic-conferences.org
Previous Winners
Joint Winners 2024
Startup Lab: A Model for Active Learning and Industry-Oriented Teaching Design
Anji Benhamed, Higher Colleges of Technology, (HCT), UAE
Empowering Change: The Crowdfunding Learning Experience in Entrepreneurial Education
Daniel Michelis, Hannah Rödiger & Sven Drews, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Germany
Winner 2023
Promoting Technopreneurship through Educational Initiatives
Sweta Patnaik and Shamil Isaacs, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa
Winner 2022
Case History of EntreTime: European Train-The-Trainer Programme for Teaching through Entrepreneurship
Mats Westerberg, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, et al
Joint Winners 2021
Learning Innovation for Enterprise: Skills for the LIFE of an entrepreneurial student
Roisin Lyons et al
Promoting Entrepreneurial, Digital and Intercultural Competences with an Interdisciplinary International Virtual Innovation Challenge
Audrey Stolze and Gudrun Socher
Winners 2020
Establishment of Student-Run STORE for Entrepreneurship Education
Christina W.Y. Wong and Magnum ManLok Lam
Joint Winners 2019
Innovate21: An Innovation & Entrepreneurship Teaching Methodology for the Development of 21st Century Skills
Paul Flynn, National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
Community Entrepreneurship: An Innovative Approach to Create Change Agents for the Community
Angela Hamouda, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland